Academia and Mental Illness: A Preliminary List of Resources

This week I received an email from a reader who had recently been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. She was asking for resources I might know of to help her navigate her Ph.D. program in light of her mental illness. I didn’t know of any, so I put out a request on Facebook and Twitter. The response was instantaneous and big.

I compiled all the recommendations into the following list. As you can see I just cut and pasted directly from the comments on Twitter and Facebook, without elaboration. They are in no particular order, and I have not yet read most of these and can’t vouch for them. But many responders also asked to be sent any list of resources I might develop, and I wanted to share the list for the benefit of those who asked. It seems clear to me that this topic is close to the heart of many.

(I don’t know why some of the links ended up not live, but if you cut and paste them as a new url they do work).

I would like to solicit guest posts on the general theme of mental illness in the academy, and ways that people have coped with it, and challenges that they have encountered. If you are interested in writing one, anonymously or not, please get in touch with me at gettenure@gmail.com. Also email me if you know of other resources to add to this list.

Melody Moezzi is a lawyer/activist who writes for Bipolar Monthly on her experience with Bipolar Disorder; I’m not sure it’s helpful in terms of specifically an academic context, but in terms of her professional life and her background as an Iranian-American I think it’s useful. http://www.amazon.com/Haldol-Hyacinths-A-Bipolar-Life/dp/1583334688

John W. Belcher. A tenured physics professor, on his 20-year struggle with depression. http://tech.mit.edu/V133/N13/belcherdepression.html

Saks’s advice is written from the position of a tenured professor with great academic privilege. For example, she gives the following advice to professors with mental illness: “Schedule your courses carefully. If your meds make you tired in the morning, try not to teach morning classes. Try to choose courses that you like to teach—you will do a better job and feel less stressed.” As any adjunct knows, we often choose neither our courses nor our meeting times. Contingency is rarely good for your mental health. – See more at: https://chroniclevitae.com/news/546-disclosure-blues-should-you-tell-colleagues-about-your-mental-illness?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en#sthash.f1Rby7FT.dpuf

About Karen

I am a former tenured professor at two institutions--University of Oregon and University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. I have trained numerous Ph.D. students, now gainfully employed in academia, and handled a number of successful tenure cases as Department Head. I've created this business, The Professor Is In, to guide graduate students and junior faculty through grad school, the job search, and tenure. I am the advisor they should already have, but probably don't.

This is a brilliant list! Thanks so much for compiling and sharing it. I’m just starting a similar blog of my own (that is, one on the topic of mental health and academia) so I’m terribly glad I found this. I’ve certainly got my work cut out for me now!

I am so excited about this string of posts, I haven’t even read most of them yet, but want to say I am very very grateful to see someone writing about. I was diagnosed with bipolar 20 years ago and have been struggling to reconcile it with academia for many, many years with limited success. I will read more and post again.